Duel on the Dune Sea
by Mandalor V7
Summary: An AU take on the duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul in Rebels


Two figures face off on Tattaine'sTatooine's wide open dessert plans. It's pitch dark out, and nipping cold. A dwindling fire provided the only illumination. The figures circled around the fire, eyeing each other.

The first of these figures wasis an old man dressed in simpley brown and white robles. His neatly kept hair and beard weare as white as fresh snow on Hoth. There wasi s a weariness on his face. The last nineteen years on the dessert world had been ruffrough. The years before that had been another sort of hell, back when he had been Obi-Wan Kenobi,; a general for the Republic in the Clone War, and wise Jedi Knight. That had been before the dark times, when his former pupil and friend had destroyed everything that Obi-Wan had fought for.

Opposite the aged Jedi stood Maul. The former Sith Lord woreear a ragged black tunic, standing on robotic legs. His red skin and was covered in scars and burns. The years had not been kind to him either. Hate radiated off the horned-head zebrake zabrak as he stared down the man that had been the catalyst for all his suffering.

Obi-Wan by contrast embody embodied serenity. Despite all the loss and suffering he had endured over the years, he had not allowed himself to fall into the traps of despair and self-pity. The Jedi Knight had not seen such malice ass in Maul's yellow eyes since had he dueled Darth Vader on Mustaifar.

Maul's mechanical feet dug into the hard stand as he paced. The twin red blades of his lightsaber staff hummed hungrily. Maul wondered why his adversary had not activated his lightsaber yet. Sweat dripped from the dark Fforce user's hand as he tightened the grip on his weapon.

Finally, having had enough, Maul let out a war cry, lunging at his enemy, and bringing his lightsaber down in an overhead sweep. A blue blade shot to life, blocking the attack just in time. Obi-Wan held his weapon two handed, takinghaving taken two controlled steps back. The Jedi Knight easily shoved his attacker away. Maul staggering staggered back, returning to a defensive stance.

Twirling his lightsaber, Maul let out a savage groan. His robotic feet kicked a pelting sand cloud into the air, as he thrust with one of his weapon's crimson blades.

Eyes closed, Obi-Won sidestepped the blade and counterattacked. His lightsaber's blue blade swiftly sliced Maul's outstretched weapon in two.

Reliving an all too familiar moment, Maul tossed his ruined weapon aside. He had only a split second as Kenobi's blade closed in for his chest. The blade singed the zebrake's zabrak's tunic and flesh. Yet Maul pulled back before the blade could cut deeper.

 _No! I will not lose to Kenobi ever again._

The intense hatred that plagued the discarded Sith Lord, manifested as energy flowing through his body. Maul took hold of that energy, extending his right hand at Kenobi. Blue and violet bolts shot from his fingers.

Obi-Wan caught the energy bolts with the tip of his lightsaber. They sizzled and cracked around the blue energy blade. The aged Jedi fought to maintain his hold on the weapon, as. Maul's Force lighting continued to intensify.

A sinister smile crossed Maul's face as he noticed his enemy wavering.

"Come now old man; why delay the inevitable? What is left for you to live for? Whom do you have left to defend?"

In that moment, for a split second, Obi-Wan's eyes showed fear. A vision flashed in his mind. _Smoke billowed from the Lars family homestead. Owen and Berue's charred bodies lay just outside one of the exits. Luke had dropped to his knees, tears running down the boy's face. Maul stood behind him, simply grinning, as he held Anakin's lightsaber in hand…_

That moment of distraction was all Maul needed. Before Obi-Wan could respond he felt an invisible tug on his lightsaber hilt. The bones in Obi-Wan's fingers snapped as the lightsaber flew from his grasp. The weapon landed in Maul's outstretched offhand.

Maul's lightning tendrils shot for the disarmed Jedi. For a moment Obi-Wan tried to contain the lightning in his hands, as he had once seen Master Yoda do. Reaching out deeper into the Force, Obi-Wan willed the energy to stop. It began gravitating into a tight singularity in the palm of his hand. The aged Jedi held on to the lighting singularity with a shaking hand. He couldn't keep this up much longer.

The singularity burst in a shockwave before the Jedi Master could redirect it. Gasping in agony, Obi-Wan dropped to the ground. His body convulsed and thrashed uncontrollably. Some of the sand around him hardened into glass shards.

Maul relished every second of Kenobi's suffering: an ozone sent hung in the air, thin smoke trails drifted from the Jedi's clothing, his face withered in agony.

The hardened sand cracked under mechanical legs as Maul drew closer. His enemy's lightsaber felt cool in his hand. Once more the blue blade sprang to life. _Oh, the sweet irony_ , Maul thought angling the weapon for a final blow.

"Now die, Kenobi," Maul hissed. A sinister smile crossed his scarred lips.

"There is no death; there is the Force," Obi-Wan weakly breathed. The lightsaber plunged into his chest. In a flash the Jedi Master's body faded into nothingness.

"What?" Maul's yellow eyes shot wide. The brown and, white robes and tunics lay there in a crumpled heap, void of any form to hold them. Maul let out a deep primal scream in frustration. From miles away, creatures stirred at the rumble. Even in the depths of Jabba's Palace, the Hutt's Rancor shuttered in fear.

Then Maul dropped to his knees. The wind started to pick up; blowing in a high-pitched whistle. The red-skinned zebrake zabrak clutched Kenobi's robes with his off hand. He subtlety(silently?) began to sob.

" _Revenge is never the answer. It promises fulfillment, but in the end, leaves you empty."_

That voice, it came from Maul's head but sounded distinctly like Kenobi's. "No, it can notcannot be," Maul whispered to himself. He knew it wasn't simply his mind playing tricks on him. That voice was Kenobi. Somehow even after beating himbeing defeated in battle Obi-Wan Kenobi had cheated death.

" _There is no death, there is the Force,_ " Obi-Wan repeated.

"Get out of my head!" Maul cursed and clutched his hands around his horn- studded skcull.

 _What now is my purpose? What this there for me to live for?_ Maul turned to look at the Jedi lightsaber that rested at his side. The weapon called to him. Taking it in his hands once more, Maul looked at the shaft where the blade would come from, a thumb drifted over the activation stud. _What to do, indeed?_

….

In the Lars fFamily homestead, Luke Skywalker abruptly woke from a deep sleep. A cold sweat dripped down his back, as he sat straight up in his bead. Something terrible had happened. Luke couldn't explain how he knew, or what exactly had happened.

Slowly the farm-boy lay back down. But he didn't go back to sleep. A crushing darkness lay upon him.


End file.
